Wings re-sign Filppula for five years
Yesterday as my work day neared an end, I went to my iGoogle page where I saw in my TSN.ca widget that the Wings re-signed Valtteri Filppula. I let out a quiet yelp of joy because this summer was going to have a happy ending. There would be no arbitration and GM Ken Holland took care of all of the key signings before August.
Let’s quickly recap this summer:
- Wings win the Stanley Cup. That alone makes any summer absolutely amazing.
- Dominik Hasek retires.
- Wings extend Mike Babcock’s contract extension for three years.
- Brad Stuart signs to stay with Detroit for another four years.
- Todd McLellan leaves to become the head coach of San Jose.
- Wings sign Ty Conklin on the first day of free agency.
- The shocker of the summer: Marian Hossa signs a one year deal with Detroit!
- Dallas Drake announces his retirement.
- The Chicago Blackhawks make an announcement that they will face the Wings on New Year’s at Wrigley Field.
- Wings re-sign Filppula for five years.
- Scotty Bowman leaves to advise Chicago. (Thanks to the Forechecker for reminding me to put this.)
Man, Wings’ fans have been pretty fortunate this summer, huh?
Now the deal is $15 million over five years, which costs us $3 million against the cap each season. I think most fans would agree that Filppula isn’t necessarily worth $2 million next season. Even Holland said that Filppula probably would’ve only received $1.5 million each season for two years in arbitration. So why is Filppula making $2 million this year? Holland believes that the $3.5 million Filppula will be making over the final three years of the contract will be a bargain.
“Fil does so many things that don’t show up on the scoreboard,” Holland said. “He’s versatile, a left wing-center. He’s got real good speed. He plays hard. He plays hurt. He’s got character. … Where’s he going to top out offensively? I don’t know that anyone knows.”
What are my thoughts? I think Filppula is just on the verge of a breakout season and this seems like just the year to do it.
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2 Responses to “Wings re-sign Filppula for five years”
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July 31st, 2008 at 11:01 pm
You left off a biggie, though, in Scotty Bowman’s departure to Chicago. I doubt it will have much impact right away (watch for 2-3 years down the road), but it’s stunning to see the Blackhawks putting together a few good decisions in a row.
August 1st, 2008 at 8:48 am
Thanks for pointing that out. I’m not sure why I did leave it out when I made a post right after this one about Scotty leaving. Maybe that was my subconscious trying to forget it. Who knows. But I added that just now.
I’m not surprised to see the Blackhawks pulling it together now. After Bill Wirtz passed away and his son Rocky took over, they have completely changed the team from creating a customer service department to putting games on TV to attracting top management from the Cubs and Wings to the Blackhawks Convention, etc. It’s a good time to be a Blackhawks fan and while I’m exciting to see this once great franchise being revived, us Wings fans are also going to have much more competition in the Central than in the past…